RICKIE SMITH PLANS TO RUN TWO POWER ADDERS IN 2021

by Bobby Bennett    Thu, 2021-03-04 17:37

 

Rickie Smith says he's covering all the bases.

The veteran doorslammer racer, who has three championships in NHRA Pro Modified, has plans to race two different power adders in 2021.

"I'm going to have both," Smith said. "My new Procharger car will be done by the end of May, maybe a little bit before then. It'll be really close to being able to run it in Charlotte. But I would say by the race after Charlotte; I'll have it running for sure."

As Smith sees it, he's tired of fighting the battle to keep the nitrous combination competitive.

"NHRA is basically trying to put the nitrous car out of business," Smith contends. "I'm tired of arguing about it all. The way I look at it, to hell with it. They want to do away with it, okay. There are other places I can go race."

Smith said he's not necessarily building the second car for use in the NHRA, as he is just trying to expand the places he can race.

"I'm building the car to go run some other races and be competitive," Smith explained. "I'm just not into going and showing up at the race if I don't think I got a chance to win. When it gets that way, I definitely quit."

Smith might say he's over fighting for the nitrous cars, but deep down in his heart, he cannot give up.

"I just hate it in a way because racing a nitrous car has been in my blood for a long time," Smith said. "I think there's still a ton of people that love the nitrous cars. I hate to see it get done away with, but that's where the trend is going. It's all NHRA's fault for letting this happen. I'm not going to sugarcoat anything."

Smith said he has a different vision of what parity is than the NHRA's tech department.

"When it gets cool weather, take St. Louis for instance, the last time we had cool weather, Stevie Jackson and Brandon Snyder outrun me both. .05 and I made the best run a nitrous car has made. I went 5.710, that's as quick as any nitrous car has ever been. I got to outrun by .05. So let's say we go to Indy, those first couple races when it was 90 degrees, humid really bad, that should have been nitrous weather. I should've been able to qualify number one. I'm not saying by .05. Just .01 or .02. I should've been able to qualify with a nitrous car at number one, and I was still .015 to .02 behind being able to qualify number one."

As Smith says, his vision of parity differs from those charged with keeping a level playing field in the NHRA's Pro Modified division.

"Tell me where the parity is," Smith asked. Tell me what I'm supposed to look at. It's plain and simple. I can't even qualify number one when I'm supposed to be able to qualify at number one. So you can't say parity anymore. There's something going on and I know it it and you know, but it's wrong that politics are taking over this class."

Either way, Smith contends, he'll be on the winning side.

 

 

 

 
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